Ceramic or stone tiles, or sheets of mosaic tiles glued to a mesh webbing, are commonly used to cover floors, walls and counters. Each tile or sheet is individually set, spaced apart from other tiles, on an adhesive material. The spacing between tiles or sheets is then filled with grout. It is important that the spacing between tiles is uniform to provide a properly spaced and aligned tile pattern.
A spacer is normally utilized to achieve uniform spacing between tiles. A plurality of spacers is used when tiles are being laid onto adhesive material. A typical prior art spacer is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,031,684 issued on Feb. 25, 1936 to F. H. Berger, which discloses a cross shape spacer for defining the four corners of four intersecting tiles. The typical prior art spacer has a depth from ⅛ to {fraction (3/16)} of an inch, which is less than the normal minimum thickness of tiles, ¼ of an inch, and spacing widths of between {fraction (1/16)} to ⅜ of an inch. Prior art spacers of predetermined widths are generally laid onto the adhesive material with four intersecting tiles pushed up against the four corners of the cross shape spacer to achieve uniform spacing of the width of the spacers. Prior to filling the spacing with grout, prior art spacers are removed with a pick or other tools because it sits below the surface of the adjacent tiles and on adhesive material, which is difficult and time consuming. Oftentimes, such prior art spacers are not retrieved and reused in view of the time and effort involved.
The small prior art cross-shape spacer is difficult to handle by the worker and U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,534 issued on Feb. 22, 1994 to B. A. Tavshanjian attempts to redress this problem. The '534 patent discloses a prior art, cross shape tile spacer having a platform wherein cross shapes extend from opposite surfaces of the platform, providing means for handling and removing the tile spacer and for pressing it when laying tiles. Although the tile spacer of the '534 patent is reusable and improves handling, it provides only a predetermined spacing width. Additionally, the platform prevents any visual access to the four intersecting corners of the files to determine proper alignment against the cross shape spacer.
Therefore, there is a need for a reusable tile spacer that is easy to handle, has multiple, or at least, dual spacing width and provide visual access to the intersecting tile corners.